Zero Mission the Novel
by Stopobama
Summary: A novelization of Zero Mission and thereby a sequel to Before the Beginning. Zero mission is a remake of the NES Metroid for those that don't know.
1. Chapter 1

Metroid Zero Mission

Metroid Zero Mission

Chapter 1

Zebes… I called this place home once. In peaceful times. Long before evil haunted the caverns below. Now I shall finally tell the story of my first battle here. My so-called Zero Mission.

Samus looked around at the underground region of Brinstar. All was deceptively peaceful here. Samus moved over to the left. There it was, the Morph Ball, which let her turn into a little ball that could fit thru small openings.

Samus knew she would have to find the rest of the upgrades on her own, without the slightest clue of where they were. Had all gone well on her last mission, Adam would've been there to point out the locations of all the upgrades. A stab of pain reached her heart as she thought of him. I would've enjoyed fighting alongside you again, old friend.

Samus continued right until she saw a Chozo statue. It almost made Samus cry at the sight, for it reminded her of the Space Pirates, how they had committed genocide of the Chozo, killing all of them until they were extinct. Samus leapt into it's hands and rolled into Morph Ball. Then something strange happened. The statue turned on her map and pointed out the location of a new upgrade. Impressed, Samus moved toward the target until a red door barred the way. Only a missile could destroy the lock on this door. Samus dropped down the shaft and headed thru the blue door there to search for greater firepower.

Samus found the Missile Launcher on a raised pillar over a pool of deadly acid. As she was leaving the room, a great worm broke the ceiling and attacked. Samus fired at its eye, and the whole thing blew up, leaving behind the Charge Beam.

Samus grabbed the upgrade and went back up the shaft to blow the red door, then went thru it and headed toward the target. As it turned out, the upgrade it pointed to was the Morph Ball Bombs. Samus searched some more and found another Chozo statue that pointed to the next upgrade, in Norfair. Samus headed to the elevator that led to Norfair.

Deep beneath the surface of Zebes, in the fortress of Tourian, was the Brain.

The Mother Brain, leader of the Space Pirates. It knew Samus was there. It was only a matter of time before she would face it.

The Brain sat in the darkness, waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Samus looked around at the fiery environment of Norfair. The header the Chozo statue had given her pointed toward an area just above the room she was in. Samus attempted to climb the platforms, but they were too slippery. She would need a Power Suit augmentation to advance further.

Samus went the opposite way and soon came to an elevator that led to Crateria. Samus headed up.

When she came up, she made her way into the Chozo Ruins. She stopped at a room filled halfway with water. A Chozo statue was half submerged and held an item ball. Samus picked up the item.

_System alert. Unknown item acquired. Alien technology has bonded to armor systems. Threat scan complete. No negative impact on suit performance._

Samus was puzzled. The item was unknown. She kept it though, because she had a feeling it'd be useful. She was right.

Samus left the room and headed deeper into the ruins. The statues she had seen were now crumbling to nothing, many missing their heads and portions of their bodies. The Chozo who had lived here were dead, as was the rest of their race. Killed by the Space Pirates. Samus swore a silent oath that she would make their race extinct as well.

Samus came to a very large Chozo Statue that held something in its hands. It was the upgrade she was looking for: the Power Grip. With it she could hang onto those tricky ledges. Samus ran out of the ruins, refilled at her ship, then went back down to Norfair. Now she could make her way to that upper room.

She ascended a vertical shaft, then navigated carefully thru a lava filled corridor to the room where the upgrade lay. In the room was a Chozo statue with the Ice Beam. With this new weapon, Samus could freeze enemies solid and use them as floating platforms.

Samus traveled back to Brinstar and found another Chozo Statue. This one showed her the location of the next upgrade. It pointed the way to Kraid's Lair. Samus would need to infiltrate Kraid's Lair and kill him to get the upgrade. Samus traveled to the elevator room and took the transport down to Kraid's Lair.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Samus ran thru the stone hallway, blasting the sidehoppers that stood in her way. She climbed the shaft and used a kinetic orb cannon to make her way up to the top. When she came to an acid lake, she used a zip line to get to the other side. As she did so, an acid worm attacked! Samus pounded missiles into its eyes to destroy it. Then she worked her way down to the room where Kraid awaited her.

Kraid was a five story tall lizard with three spike-filled belly buttons and one big fat belly. It roared and fired spikes from its belly buttons. Samus shot it with a missile right between its two lower eyes and right below it's third eye. This caused Kraid to open his mouth. Samus fired several missiles down his gullet. This caused Kraid to destroy the platforms she was standing on. Samus climbed to the top of the room and repeated the process, being careful to monitor her energy reserves and missile supply. She knew she had won when Kraid stopped fighting and sunk into the ground below.

Samus retrieved the Speed Booster from the room with a Chozo statue, then used it to blaze thru to the other side of the lair. After getting a few expansions, she left Kraid's lair and traveled back to Norfair after getting the location of the High Jump Boots from a Chozo statue.

In the middle of the Chozo Ruins in Chozodia, the Pirate mothership landed. This was the flagship of Ridley. The creature had answered the Mother Brain's call. Before she could reach the Brain, Samus would have to beat Ridley.

Ridley

Samus retrieved the Boots from Norfair. With them, she was able to retrieve the Varia Suit. She left Norfair, went up to the upper right corner of Brinstar, and retrieved the Varia suit from a Chozo statue. With it, she would be able to venture into acid and Norfair's superheated regions without taking damage.

Varia Suit


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Samus shot away the weak floor and fell thru the fake lava.

She had found a Chozo Statue that had pointed the way to her next upgrade, in the superheated region of Norfair. Now she was arriving at the room where the upgrade was supposed to be. Se went thru the door and found the Wave Beam. It was an electric weapon that featured a limited homing capability. Samus's mind strayed back to the unknown items. While searching in Kraid's lair she had found a second unknown item. It was just as unidentifiable as the previous one had been, although it seemed to be a movement upgrade of some kind. Whatever it was, Samus had decided to hold onto it.

Samus traveled thru Norfair until she came to a room that held a giant larva suspended from a network of vines. Samus destroyed the vines and down came the larva. It smashed open a gateway to an elevator that led to Ridley's Lair.

Samus tried to advance thru Ridley's Lair but a green door blocked her way. Samus knew she couldn't open it, and headed back to Norfair.

When she got back, she found that the larva had burrowed a tunnel that went into Ridley's lair. Samus went down the tunnel until she came to a dried-up mass that was the skin of the larva. "The larva must've pupated," Samus said to herself. "Looks like I'll have to fight it as an adult."

Sure enough, Samus came out into a large room and was beset upon by the larva. Now it was an adult, a beelike creature by the name of Imago. Samus discovered that its tail was vulnerable to her missiles. With repeated shots she was able to crack off the tail. The bee smashed thru an organic barrier and exploded, revealing the Super Missile. Samus could now bust thru green doors and deal major damage to Ridley when the time came. Samus headed thru the green door toward Ridley's room.

Samus arrived in the room where Ridley was supposed to be, but it was empty. She went into the next room and found that it contained a Chozo statue. She picked up the item it held. Another unknown item! Samus wondered why this and the other two she had found could not be identified. Perhaps they were incomplete. Samus shrugged and stashed it in her inventory, then went back to the pillared room.

Back in the room, Samus turned. A cry she had heard before sounded and Ridley dove upon her, unleashing a stream of fireballs.

"Well, well, well, look who dropped in," said a familiar voice. "Ridley!" Samus spat. "I'll make you pay for what you did to my family. I'll make you pay for all the others you killed. And I'll make you pay _dearly_ for Adam."

"Ah, the fellow was dear to you I see," came the mocking voice.

Then, in that moment, Samus snapped.

A red mist descended in front of her eyes. All thought, all reason, fled from her, and she fell into a berserk rage. Every thought, every feeling, every memory, every ounce of logic, everything human in and about Samus disappeared. It its place there was madness, insanity, and above all, one endless thought: Ridley must die, _now_.

Five minutes and several super missiles later, Ridley shrieked as explosions blossomed around him. There was a blinding flash of light and Ridley was gone.

Samus stood there, sane now. Although it seemed that Ridley was dead, for some reason Samus wasn't so sure. Even so, Ridley was defeated. Now for the final objective. After taking a quick detour to get the Screw Attack, Samus left Norfair. After traveling thru Brinstar, she found the elevator to Tourian. Samus took a deep breath and headed down.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Samus ran into the room and stopped. There on the floor was a dead Space Pirate. _How did he die?_ Samus wondered. She soon found out. In the next room was… "That's the creature whose picture I saw taped to the stasis tank in Illion!" The Metroid chirped and dived at Samus, latching onto her head. Samus's visor instantly fogged up and her energy drained rapidly. Samus rolled into Morph Ball and set a bomb. The Metroid squealed and let go. Samus rolled out and shot the creature with her Ice Beam. It froze instantly, and Samus popped it with a missile.

More of the dead Pirates were encountered throughout the entire base. Incredibly, it turned out that the whole population of Pirates had been wiped out by Metroids who had gotten out of their stasis tanks. Samus refilled her energy at a nearby station, then headed thru the next door and froze.

She was in a long hallway with strange glowing pillars everywhere. Samus destroyed the pillars, for she realized they were an energy source of some type. And at the very end of the hall was the Mother.

The Mother Brain. Created by the Chozo long ago, deactivated after it turned on them, discovered by the Pirates and resurrected to eventually become their leader. The sight of her turned Samus's stomach. It looked like a massive brain with one huge eyeball on the front of it, staring at her. Spikes stuck out from the pulsing, glistening flesh. Samus knew she'd reached her objective.

The Mother opened it's eye and fired a purple energy blast. Samus dodged it and unloaded her Super Missiles into her eye. The battle continued for quite some time with Samus gaining ground. Eventually the Mother exploded. The ground shook, the walls started exploding, and a voice said, "Self-destruct activated. Evacuate immediately." Samus ran out of Tourian and headed back to her ship. She took off and watched as Tourian exploded.

_The timing of my escape couldn't have been worse. I was attacked by Space Pirates and left nearly defenseless, stripped of my Power Suit. All I had for protection was my rather useless emergency pistol. Infiltrating the Pirate mothership so armed may have been suicide, but I had no choice. Could I survive long enough to escape?_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Samus arrived at the save station utterly exhausted.

She had spent the past hour running from the horde of Pirates chasing her. They would've loved to catch her, but she managed to evade them. They had now chased her into the ruins of her childhood home, bringing back so amny memories.

Now Samus healed and headed for the upper room.

And stopped in shock at what she saw.

This was the room where Tahu had taken her all those years ago, the room with the painting of the Chozo wearing the Varia Suit and holding a silver orb. Samus knelt down and peered at the wall. Sure enough, the crude drawing she had etched at six years old was still visible.

Suddenly four symbols on the wall came to life, firing lasers at the picture of the Chozo. It detatched itself from the wall and floated around the room. The orb it held turned transparent and a replica of Samus appeared inside. Samus noticed that it moved whenever she moved. She waited, and suddenly the image changed to a symbol just like the four on either side of the Chozo painted on the wall. Samus fired at it. The symbol separated from the Chozo Ghost and melded with one of it's cousin's on the wall. Samus understood. She needed to repeat the process three more times so that all four symbols were lit. After accomplishing this, the apparition floated back onto the painting and disappeared. The four symbols fired lasers at the center orb again and the image of Samus changed to show a figure in the Gravity Suit, an upgrade she had never found, or so she thought.

Suddenly Samus was swept off of her feet and she blacked out. She came to a moment later, to find that she was wearing her suit once more. But that wasn't all. Her inventory came up, and one of the unknown items she had gathered flashed and went from UNKNOWN in big letters to the following:

_Gravity Suit. This suit allows you to move freely in water and stops low-temperature lava damage._

Then the second item, the one she had found in the ruins where the Power Grip had been, flashed and changed. Samus read it.

_Plasma Beam. This beam fires streams of molten energy that sets things on fire and can vaporize even the strongest enemy when charged. It can even melt thru multiple enemies._

Now the third unknown item, the one she'd found in Kraid's Lair, was flashing too.

_Space Jump. Fly by somersaulting continually in midair. When combined with the Screw Attack you will be invincible._

Slowly, an insidious grin spread across Samus's face. It was payback time.

Samus left the ruins and entered the mothership, annihilating everything in her path. Any pirate who stood before her was vaped in a puff of smoke. Their screams as their flesh vaporized were awful to hear by most people, but to Samus it was the loveliest sound in the universe. The more misery she caused, the more she wanted to cause. Finally, she had worked her way up to the top of the ship. After finding the Power Bombs, which the Pirates had stolen, she went into a storage room. (Unlike their cool but kinda wimpy cousins, Power bombs could wipe the floor of anything within range, and vaporize most materials. It could also destroy bendezium and denzium.)

Samus saw a metal shape inside the dark room and said, "Hello?" The lights turned on, revealing a hideous mechanoid that looked a lot like Ridley except it had no wings or tail, but rather a missile launcher on it's back.

It spoke in an almost human sounding voice. "Stop right there hunter. You have made it here, but now I will kill you."

Samus wasn't scared. "That may be friend," she said. "But if it's within my power, I'll rip your spark from your chest before I bite the dust."

The machine responded by firing missiles and slashing Samus with it's claws. The claws stunned her, but she charged her Power Beam and fired a super missile into it's chest, blowing off the armor plate. Samus then reached in with one purple hand (the Gravity Suit looked just like the Varia Suit except it was purple) and ripped out a sparkling sphere of energy. The sphere dimmed and vanished, as did the red light in the eyes of the robot. It fell on top of her, dead as dirt.

Samus examined the ruined thing and found she could use it to hack into the ship's computer. She set off the self-destruct sequence, them made it so that no one but her could stop it no matter what. She even turned off the alarms so the pirates would have no idea that they were going to die.

After doing this, she headed out and accessed a small fighter, an odd little craft with a decorative tail. Samus checked to see if it had hyperdrive capabilities and it did. She gunned the engine and headed out of the mothership. As she accelerated, a pirate foolishly jumped up in front of her and was crushed to death against the ceiling.

Samus headed out of the ship and flew up in the air. She watched the ship. At first nothing happened. Then it glowed red, shuddered, and blew up in an explosion brighter than any she'd seen yet. Joy welled up in Samus's heart. She exited the atmosphere and blasted into hyperspace, sending a message to the GFHQ. It said simply, "Mission Accomplished."


	7. Chapter 7

Epilogue

One month later.

Samus built herself a new ship and then searched the system Zebes was in for any remnants of the Space Pirates. Suddenly she picked up a distress beacon coming from a Pirate ship in orbit above a planet called Tallon IV. Samus told the computer to find the origin of the signal. After a few minutes, words appeared on the screen.

_Unidentified distress beacon has been tracked to a derelict space vessel in orbit above Tallon IV._

End of Book Two

The story will continue in Metroid Prime.

See you next mission!


End file.
